Friday and Saturday, January 19-20,2024, Urbandale’s five show choirs traveled to Johnston High School for their competitive debuts of the season at the annual ShowZam! competition. Ambition, the 7th grade choir, took 1st place in the middle school novice division. Pizzazz, the 8th-grade choir, brought home second place on Friday night.
The high school groups started the day off bright and early, getting to UHS at 6:10 am. Our brand new Urbandale Affinity, a treble voice-only choir, competed for the very first time. Affinity took the stage as the first performance of the day at 8:15 am. The group, directed by Ms. Michaela Gyure, performed their slumber party-themed show, which features soloists Lucy Cunningham (Sophomore (2 Be Loved), Ava Russel (Freshman (Quater Past Midnight), and Maria Quick (Freshman (Ballad). At daytime awards, they were able to secure the first-place win over the Norris High School Titanaires. Although they didn’t receive any individual awards, the band, directed by Mr. Ted Brimeyer, earned Best Band in the Unisex and Prep division category.
Vitality, the UHS prep group directed by Mr. Jon Edgeton, took the stage next for Urbandale at 10:50 am. They performed their show, Inside Out, with featured soloists, Mallory Riester (Sophomore (Joy), Athena Augspurger (Sophomore(Disgust), Henry Dix (Junior (Fear), Sean Roberts (Junior (Anger), Addie Dahlgren (Junior (Treble feature), Sydney Hasson (Sophomore (Ballad), Braden Cox (Freshman (Ballad), and Hudson Lybarger (Senior (instrumental soloist). During daytime awards, the group sent shock waves through the gymnasium, when they earned their spot in the Finals over two varsity groups. Vitality won the prep division, as well as Best Choreography and Best Vocals. They had three individual awards handed out, Best Soloist; Addie Dahlgren, Best Instrumentalist; Hudson Lybarger, and Best Performer; Delaney Boyens (Sophomore) . Last year, Vitality was only able to make an appearance in Finals at Omaha North, the last competition of the year. The group is taking giant leaps and bounds towards success this season, even though they placed 6th in finals at ShowZam!, they outscored two varsity groups, which is seen as a huge success.
The last Urbandale group to take the Johnston stage, was Urbandale STUDIO 2024, directed by Mr. Ted Brimeyer, performing their show Gilligan’s Island. The show features soloists, Taylor Beron (Senior) as the Skipper, Dylan Rains (Senior) as Mr. Howell, Kennedy Menke (Senior) as Mrs. Howell, Owen Hamman (Senior) as Gilligan, Kate Pargeon (Senior) as Ginger, Alexander Baker (Junior) as The Professor, and Avery Clayton (Senior) as Mary Ann. STUDIO and Waukee Northwest EOS were each other’s biggest rivals at Johnston. At the 2023 competition EOS came out on top, the 2024 competition looked like it was going to turn out the same way at daytime awards. EOS was able to take first place going into finals, STUDIO was close behind, and by close we mean half a point. STUDIO performed 4th at finals and re-wowed the judges, the group was able to turn the tables on EOS and STUDIO took home Grand Champions as well as Best Vocals and Best Choreography, losing Best Band to The Ambassadors of Prarie High School by one point.
All five groups competed at Waukee Northwest’s Nightfall on February 2nd and 3rd. The competition was very different from Johnston’s and unfortunately, none of the groups were able to bring home a first-place win. STUDIO was able to place second in finals to Ankeny Centennial’s Spectrum. February 9th, and 10th, UHS hosted the 41st annual Urbandale Show Choir Invitational. With groups from Johnston, Waukee, Linn Mar, and Grand Island the stage was filled with talent on both days. Pizzazz and Ambition performed in exhibition Friday Night. Affinity, Vitality, and STUDIO performed in exhibition throughout the day on Saturday. Congratulations to Linn-Mar 10th Street Edition on grand champions, and to everyone that competed.
